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Chapter 14 Spain Celia Valiente, Luis Ramiro and Laura Morales

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Chapter 14 Spain Celia Valiente, Luis Ramiro and Laura Morales Chapter 14 Spain Celia Valiente, Luis Ramiro and Laura Morales Introduction In Western countries, the gender gap in political representation has been the object of increased attention by scholars, politicians and the public. In response to a growing expectation that women should be more fully represented in political life, some political parties have adopted internal mechanisms to increase the presence of women among the parliamentarian elite. In other instances, countries reformed their electoral laws in order to feminize the political elite. Spain is no exception to this pattern. Some Spanish parties have gender quotas and some legislative attempts to modify the electoral laws have been discussed (and up to now defeated) at the national and regional level. 1 The aim of this chapter is three-fold: to test whether Spanish women are discriminated against while trying to enter the parliamentary elite, to examine demand-side explanations that maintain that women as a group do not have enough resources to obtain an egalitarian representation in elected institutions, and to study the differences (if any) between female and male members of the lower chamber of the Spanish parliament (the Chamber of Deputies, Congreso de los Diputados) with respect to their socio-economic characteristics and their parliamentary work. In assessing these three aspects of the elective process, we mainly analyse two types of empirical data: lists of candidates in the 2000 general elections; and information on female and male deputies in the 2000-2004 legislative term. First, we offer a general overview of the Spanish political system and the situation and evolution of women's role in politics in Spain, and more specifically of female members of the Spanish parliament (MPs). Second, we review the (scant) literature on the under-representation of Spanish women in Parliament. Third, we use empirical data to test some demand-side and supply-side explanatory factors of women's unequal parliamentary representation in Spain. More concretely, we study whether it is possible to affirm that women are discriminated against while trying to become deputies; the potential impact of the size of the electoral district on women's chances to become MPs; and whether the lower education level of women (as a group) is an obstacle for them to be parliamentarians. Finally, we analyse the differences (if any) between female and male Spanish deputies concerning their socio-economic characteristics and their parliamentary work. 190 Sharing Power Spain 191 Politics and Women in Spain Women, and the Feminine Association for Civic Education (AFEC), and with a burst of public suffragist demonstrations in the streets seeking the vote for women From 1939 to 1975 Spain was governed by a right-wing authoritarian regime (Fagoga, 1985, p.153). headed by General Franco. The current political system was formed during the During the Second Republic women entered parliament and held political office: transition to democracy initiated in 1975. This transition was characterized by the thirteen women were elected as deputies in each of the three legislative terms, negotiation between reformist political forces from the dictatorship and the representing both left- and right-wing parties and another, the anarchist Federica democratic opposition. The transition was formally symbolised by the public Montseny, briefly served as a Minister of Public Health during the Civil War, thus adoption of a democratic constitution in 1978. The King is the head of state but becoming the ftrst ever woman Minister. Unfortunately, women's political rights with few formal powers. Parliament is composed of two chambers: the lower were to be short-lived. Women's right to participate in politics in Spain ended with chamber, the Congress of Deputies, and the upper chamber, the Senate. Members the Civil War, fought between 1936 and 1939. Many women in the Republican of the Congress of Deputies are elected by proportional representation under the zone joined the armed forces until the Republican government prohibited them D'Hondt system with closed lists. The 52 constituencies, based on provincial from ftghting at the front. After the end of the war, the dictatorship of General boundaries, vary in size from one to 34 members and return a total of 350 Franco attempted to send women back to the home and reinforced traditional : parliamentarians to the lower house. There is a three per cent minimum threshold gender roles in the family, society and politics. The only role women could for representation at the electoral district level. These characteristics of the exercise in the public sphere during the authoritarian regime was linked to the electoral system imply that electoral results tend to favour big parties and parties activities of the Women's Branch of the single official party, the Seccion with geographically concentrated support. Femenina, which was responsible for the political indoctrination of women and the The Spanish political party system is a limited multi-party system with a low socialization of women in traditional roles (cooking, sewing, religious faith and level of ideological polarisation (Linz and Montero, 1999). In general, three nation- practice) and charitable activities. However, some women continued to participate wide political parties attract the majority of popular support, the centre-right in politics within the underground organisations of the opposition political p.arties Popular Party (Partido Popular, PP), the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido and illegal trade unions, and the modem feminist movement ftrst appeared m the Socialista Obrero Espanol, PSOE) and United Left (Izquierda Unida, IU). Three late 1960s, although it only really developed in organizational terms in the mid- regional parties play a pivotal role in forming parliamentary majorities, the Catalan 1970s (Scanlon, 1990, Threlfall, 1996). centre-right coalition Convergence and Union (Convergencia i Unio, Ciu), the With the new 1978 constitution most but not all of the discriminatory laws center-right Nationalist Basque Party (Partido Nacionalista Vasco, PNV) and the introduced during the dictatorship were abolished and the constitution granted smaller Canary centre-right coalition Canary Coalition (Coalicion Canaria, CC). equal rights for men and women and full citizenship for the latter. With the During the 1993-96 and 1996-2000 parliamentary terms the regional parties Ciu, restoration of democracy the presence of women began to increase in Parliament, CC and PNV supported the respective PSOE and PP minority governments. The public offtce-holding, and the political parties and trade unions (Instituto de la Ciu, the CC and the PNV have governed their respective regions for a long time. Mujer, 2003; Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2002). With regard to the Congress ~f In post-authoritarian Spain a process of devolution of powers to the regions has Deputies, the proportion of female MPs rose throughout the whole democratIc produced a quasi-federal state. period, from six per cent in 1977 to 36 per cent in 2004. After the 2004 elections, For a short period between 1931 and the mid-1930s Spain was for the ftrst time the PSOE had the highest representation of female parliamentarians (46 per cent), in its history governed by a democratic regime, known as the Second Republic. followed by the PNV (29 per cent), the ill-IC (40 per cent), the PP (28 per cent), The Spanish Republican Constitution of 1931 was the ftrst to establish the equal PNV (14 per cent) and the Ciu (10 per cent). The percentage of women in the right of men and women to vote and to be elected in national elections (Montero, parliamentary groups of PP, PSOE, ill, CiU, and PNV has generally increased in 1996), after a vivid and historical parliamentary debate that took place between the the last three decades, and especially since 1989. This increase has been continuous Radical deputy Clara Campoamor - in favour of female suffrage - and the Radical- in the cases of the PP and PSOE, and it has experienced some periodic reversions Socialist deputy Victoria Kent who opposed it for tactical reasons. Before that, the in the cases of ill, CiU and PNV due to their smaller parliamentary seat share suffrage movement in Spain had been rather weak in organisational terms, but had (Table 14.1). In the Senate, the proportion of women has always been slightly gradually introduced the issue of female suffrage into public debate. The ftrst lower than in the Congress of Deputies, and women senators held 25 per cent of public vindication of female suffrage took place in 1854 (Fagoaga, 1985, 44ft) and the seats in the 2004-2008 Senate. In the 17 regional parliaments women have it was not until 1883 that the ftrst signs of suffragist collective action emerged gradually increased their presence from an average of six per cent in 1983 to an (Fagoaga, 1985, 74ft). Nevertheless, during the 1920s the Spanish suffrage average of 32 per cent in 2003 (Threlfall, 1996; Montero, 1996; Instituto de la movement organised more effectively around their claims for voting rights, with Mujer, 2003), and reached 53 per cent in the regional parliament of Castilla-La the creation of several organisations such as the Spanish Women National Mancha in the regional elections of May 2003. Association (ANME), the Women Union of Spain (UME), the Crusade of Spanish 192 Sharing Power Spain 193 Table 14.1 Women MPs in Spanish Lower Chamber (%),1977-2004 1996, pp.270-2). Through these years, however, the feminist movement pursued an ambitious agenda that went far beyond issues of women's presence in politics. In Election Total PSOE AP-PP PCE-IU CiD PNV the 1970s and through the 1980s, among the goals pursued were equality before the 1977 6 8 6 15 0 0 law, reproductive rights such as decriminalisation of the selling and advertising of 1979 5 4 11 9 11 0 contraceptives (achieved in 1978), a divorce law (obtained in 1981), legalisation of 1982 5 7 1 0 0 12 abortion (partially achieved in 1985), criminalisation of sexual violence, and equal 1986 7 7 6 0 6 0 employment policies.
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